Whole Chicken and Vegetable Soup Roasted in a Pumpkin

Ingredients

• 1 large pumpkin (Big enough to fit a whole chicken; seeds and stringy insides scooped out, flesh left intact)
• 1 whole chicken (Bones discarded after roasting; meat shredded back into the soup)
• cabbage (Chopped)
• carrots (Chopped)
• mushrooms (Chopped)
• onions (Chopped)
• garlic cloves
• fresh rosemary
• fresh sage
• fresh thyme
• bay leaves
• 1 chicken stock cube (Crumbled)
• salt (To taste)
• black pepper (To taste)
• olive oil (For rubbing on the pumpkin exterior)

Steps

1. 1

   Cut the top off the pumpkin to make a lid. Scoop out the seeds and stringy insides, taking care to leave the pumpkin flesh intact.

2. 2

   Chop the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and onions, then add them to the hollowed pumpkin with the garlic.

3. 3

   Nestle the whole chicken inside the pumpkin. Add the fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, bay leaves, crumbled chicken stock cube, salt, and black pepper.

4. 4

   Replace the pumpkin lid. Rub the outside of the pumpkin with olive oil and carefully transfer it to the oven.

5. 5

   Roast for approximately 4 hours, until the chicken reaches 74°C/165°F in the thickest part and the vegetables are tender. Cooking time will vary with the size of the pumpkin and chicken.

6. 6

   No water is needed: as the pumpkin, chicken, and vegetables cook, they release their natural juices to make a broth.

7. 7

   Carefully remove the chicken from the pumpkin. Discard the bones, shred the meat, and return it to the soup.

8. 8

   Ladle the soup into bowls with some of the soft pumpkin flesh and serve.

Notes

Ingredient quantities are unspecified for the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, herbs, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and olive oil. No oven temperature is provided.

Nutrition per serving

• soup
• main
• dinner
• autumn
• Halloween
• roasted
• one-pot
• gluten-free